The Biggest Issue in Pro Wrestling Today!

Kevin
Nash and Vince McMahon Discussion

As
the Royal Rumble looms over the world of Pro Wrestling and with WrestleMania
Season around the corner, discussions about the state of the industry always
come up and allow the fans to reflect on the business providing them with an
opportunity to vent their frustrations about the product, cheer for their
favorites, and hypothesize about who will be the next big thing.

Despite
this enthusiastic fandom, it is essential to fairly evaluate the industry and
see where there is room for and a need for improvements. During a recent
episode of “The Ross Report Podcast” starring Jim Ross, the former WWF and WCW
World Champion, Kevin Nash, discussed a conversation he once had with Vince
McMahon about the state of the business and the differences between the product
now and that of the Attitude Era.

Nash
would comment, “I remember one
time I was talking to Vince – it wasn’t the last WrestleMania, I think it was the one before
– and I just asked him how things were. And he goes, ‘The thing that’s changed
more than anything, [is] back when you broke in here in the fed, it was a shark
tank. Like, everybody went after that top prize, and it was a battle. Now,
[wrestlers] wait for him to come around with a sword and anoint them.’ It’s
just not the same anymore.”

This statement can easily be dismissed as an
aging veteran attempting to put over his own time in the business but if you
examine what he actually said, you would see that what is really happening is
very apparent. Nash didn’t claim that the Attitude Era had better performers.
Nor did he reference the Monday Night Wars. He didn’t even put himself over as
a huge draw as World Heavyweight Champion. Instead, he referenced Vince McMahon’s
comments in a manner that illustrates his frustrations with the current state
of affairs and that underscores one of the biggest reasons that despite record
profits for WWE, live event attendance, weekly television ratings, and pay per
view buys have slipped a great deal for a fairly consistent period of time.

The Truth

The simple truth is that talent these days are
wrapped up in more things that distract them from the in ring product and thus
we have a less engaging program to watch each week and are struggling to be
motivated to tune into Raw and Smackdown Live when we are going to see the same
matches week in and week out.

In the WWE alone, there are a pantheon of
revenue streams these days. You have their house shows, television programming,
merchandising second to none, toys, games, replica belts, and even their own
streaming network channel that you can subscribe to for the low monthly price
of $9.99. Those fail to include WWE Films and the variety of other industries that
the WWE find themselves invested in.

This has allowed talent to make more money and
have more exposure than ever before which is a huge problem.

Why is this happening?

The simple answer is that wrestlers are not
focused in the same way they were during the Attitude Era or any era before
that. These days, wrestlers are concerned with their contracts, creative input
into their characters, moving merchandise, starring in the next Marine Movie,
pushing t-shirt sales at Hot Topic, or putting on the best show each night. None
of those things are a bad thing per se. However, it is far different than the
wrestlers of the past.

For those who were around before the Attitude
Era, you may remember interviews with Ric Flair putting over his next match
with whatever flash in the pan talent he was set to face. He would sell the
match, put over his opponent, and then turn his attention to the rest of the
locker room who wanted “his” World Heavyweight Championship. Every talent that
did a promo would come out and stake their claim and voice their desire to be
the World Heavyweight Champion. It didn’t matter if you were the smallest guy
on the show, you still wanted to “be the man”.

When was the last time you heard someone like
TJP talk about being World Heavyweight Champion? Have you ever seen Gallows or
Anderson mention the title? You have one guy who voices his desire each week on
social media and he isn’t “over” enough for Vince McMahon to give him a run
with the title but at least he says it.

When you look at Vince McMahon’s comments, what
you should see is that Vince would love for every guy in the company to go out
there every day and leave it all out there. He would love to have those same
guys come to the back and tell him that they are on a mission to prove to him
that they can be world champion. He would be absolutely thrilled for them to get
over with the crowds with their in ring ability, mic skills, and their demeanor
when they head to the ring. Unfortunately, as McMahon is stating above, talents
seem to want to wait to be chosen for their path to the championship.

Is this a WWE Phenomenon?

The biggest concern is that this is not just in
WWE! When you watch a match on an Impact Wrestling broadcast, there are a host
of characters who are working the most ridiculous angles each week. Lucha
Underground, which is a great product, is focused on high spots and bazaar characters.
Ring of Honor has potentially the most prestigious title in North America and
it is because their #1 championship is desired by all who wrestle for them.
Even New Japan Pro Wrestling has this issue as someone like Hiroshi Tanahashi
seems complacent being the IWGP Intercontinental Champion rather than pursuing
the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. A desire to be world champion should
be felt from more than the challenger of the month. Talents from the bottom of
the show to the top of the show should all be chasing the champion no matter
who it is.

The Solution

The solution is a complex one. Talents in WWE
are rushed to the main roster only to be completely misused and recycled
repeatedly (Bo Dallas Anyone?). The reality is that the in ring quality would
be significantly better if instead of bringing up new talents just for the sake
of the fan pop, they would instead bring up the talents who have expressed the
desire to be world champion. They should elevate those who they feel they can
build a company around in the future. With all of the classes offered at the
performance center, they should include a class that emphasizes how to being
passion to the business and a true desire to be world champion. If a talent
doesn’t have that desire when they get to the main roster, then they are doomed
to mediocrity (Shinsuke Nakamura).

It is time to go back to a more traditional
model. Have a mid-level star come out every once in a while and with no story line build, proclaim their desire to be world champion. Allow them to have
a match with the champion just to show the fans that there is something new to
watch each week. Until WWE and other promotions start to instill the value of
desire in their performers, wrestling will continue to under perform. The
quality of the matches each week will be less inspiring. Most importantly, the
business as a whole will miss out on some of the greatest action of all time as
dream matches won’t materialize the way they used to and eventually the parity
in the business will leave us with less legends and fewer favorites.